1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to system for firearm ammunition display which shows the current count of ammunition in the magazine. The display provides a highly reliable ammunition count of ammunition in a firearm magazine utilizing separate wirelessly linked modules intended to enable the user to view the ammunition count on the remote display module, or when applicable, to other persons such as observers or instructors. Depending on the type of firearm, the magazine module can be designed as a drop-in replacement for the Spring Assembly or as a complete, auxiliary device internal to the magazine.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Safety and tactical issues arise with magazine-fed firearms due to the failure of the user to know or to fully rely on the number of rounds remaining in a magazine (“ammunition count”). Prior attempts to provide such a system are not entirely adequate at measuring round-counts since they can be highly influenced by environmental and mechanical conditions internal or external to the firearm or magazine. Other inventions cannot account for the addition or subtraction of rounds in the magazine without, at times, having to manually reset the device to continue providing an accurate round-count. Additionally, other inventions such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,799,432 require electronic recalibration by either fully inserting, or completely emptying, rounds in the magazine to continuously maintain an accurate round-count. Moreover, other inventions cannot provide an accurate round-count after changing to different capacity magazines since the entire system is either dependent on a defined magazine capacity, or the sensor cannot distinguish between capacities of changed magazines since the round-counting mechanism is based on a firearm-side sensor system such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,142,805. Furthermore, other inventions do not allow for a user-friendly view of the round-count, and which may entail the user to lose field-of-view of potential targets in tactical or other critical situations such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,642,581.
By contrast, in this invention, the use of solid state components and magazine-based sensors overcomes the aforementioned operability issues affiliated with small arms round-counting especially in those devices that operate in harsh environments. Most notably, the present invention utilizes a contactless round-counting technique based upon resonant inductive sensing technology which offers wear-free operation and which is not adversely affected by the presence of liquids, debris, fouling, or cleaning agents common to firearm use. The sensor and other components of this invention are designed for industrial applications that can withstand extensive vibration, shock, magnetism, and temperature variations with negligible transient affects to the round-count.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.